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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Neythili Meen Aviyal (Anchovies in Coconut based Gravy)

Neythili or Anchovies are one of the food which I enjoyed the most in my childhood. Whenever I visit my grandma's place or aunt's place, these anchovies are must in their regular diet. Even though when I was not a big fan of fish in my childhood, I used to love these gravies even still now. After a very long time, I had these anchovies, that too prepared by me. Last week when I got these, the immediate thing which I done was called my mom and asked for the recipe. Except the cleaning part of the fish, the recipe by itself is quite easy. If you can get cleaned fish directly, then that makes your life much more easier . I have used raw mango for this recipe, if you couldn't find raw mango, you can also replace it with tomatoes. Try this recipe, I'm sure you'll love it.

Method:
Remove the head and tail part of the anchovies and clean it well in water. Grind together coconut, turmeric and chilly powder by adding little water. Heat oil in a pan or kadai, add mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, garlic pods and green chillies. Then add the chopped shallots and saute it for 2 to 3 minutes until it looks translucent. Now add the ground coconut mixture, sliced raw mango and the fish. Add very little water to this and salt as per taste. Give it a gentle stir, without breaking the fish. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes. Then open the lid and cook for further few minutes, until the water gets dried out completely. In the middle of cooking give it a gentle stir. Once the water gets dried out completely, take it off from heat and serve it with plain rice.

Frankly have never tried anchovies... my sea-foood repertoire is quite small i must admit :D but i love spicy south-indian style fare, esp prawns and chicken in coconut based gravy! so this recipe just caught my eye... it looks so fresh and inviting! a must-try soon !

I tasted this Nethili Avial only after coming to Nagercoil, prepared by my maami. I absolutely love this. You have prepared it exactly the same way. May be, it is a Nagercoil speciality. Sometimes maami prepares Nethili puttu too. Hope you know that as well. Very nice presentation. My husb appreciated the lighting here too!! :)

I usually stir fried anchovies, never tried with coconut or in aviyal, but your pics are so tempting...will try it your way Ayesha...and thanx for your insight into baklavas...it seems I need to first learn to handle the filo sheets, ystday I almost messed it up while making a pastry...baklava had to wait for sometime..:(

We share the same love for anchovies in Malaysia too. The common way to enjoy anchovies is fry them up with fiery sambal. Would love to try this recipe..the use of all these wonderful ingredients and spices sound really tempting.

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About Me

Salams(peace and blessings be upon you), I'm homemaker, happily married and mum of two little sweet girls. I just love to cook good home made food with fresh products. I welcome your suggestions whether it's good or bad. Your suggestions and comments will keep me improve everyday with my blogging. Any doubts regarding my recipes please contact me at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com